Wentworth Gallery

Petticoat Lane - Polly Nathans Fish Shop

Petticoat Lane, London - Polly Nathan's Fish Shop. A street clothes market on Wentworth Street and Middlesex Street. Secondhand clothes and bric-a-brac had been sold in an area known as Peticote Lane since the early 17th century. An influx of immigrant Huguenots and later immigrants Jews developed the manufacturing in the area and maintained the traditions of trade. Despite a severe decline following WWII, a further influx of Asian immigrants in the 1970s once again restored the areas vitality. Date: circa 1910s

© Mary Evans / Grenville Collins Postcard Collection

Bessie Wentworth music hall male impersonator 1873-1901

Bessie Wentworth (Elizabeth Mary Andrews) male impersonator and ?coon singer? of plantation songs - a genre which would be unacceptable today. Here wearing a naval uniform and holding a cigarette. She died aged 27 and a series of cards were published entitled ?The late Miss Bessie Wentworth? of which this is one. Date: circa 1890s

© MonoMania Images / Mary Evans Picture Library

The Prodigal Son by Hall Caine

Promotional postcard for The Prodigal Son by Hall Caine. First produced at the Grand Theatre, Douglas, 2nd November 1904 Drury Lane Theatre, 7th September 1905. Wentworth Crokes Co. touring to Theatre Royal, Bath, 28th February 1910. Date: 1910

© The Michael Diamond Collection / Mary Evans Picture Library

Caine, Croke S, Crokes, Drury, Entertainment, Hall, Joy, Joyous, Lane, Panto, Pantomime, Play, Popular, Postcard, Prodigal, Promotional, Son, Stage, Theatre, Theatrical, Welcoming, Wentworth